Against all odds
by Storybookgirl77
Summary: Set now and in 1945 an old lady tells a young girl of a time wh n love and friendship really had to conquer all. In a time when facism and evil swarmed the world one woman risked everything for the man she loved and the country she called home. Can she make the younger generation see sometimes love can win? Against all odds
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer I do not own Wish me Luck. ITV own all rights as do the original writers. No copyright infringement is intended nor should be inferred

1.

Liz felt herself shake as the memories of that fateful day hit her. She was not a young woman anymore, Nazi Europe and her older brother being shot down in an air battle almost felt as if they had happened to someone else. Yet here she was sat in the kitchen, holding a mug of tea as her great granddaughter questioned her about the War.

"Is this for school?"

"History."

"Well, it's good to know I am a part of history." She sipped her tea; aware the young girl was waiting. "Has your father asked you to ask me these questions?"

"Daddy said you and Grandpa were War Heroes." The little girl watched as the old woman shook her head and smiled. She knew her son and and granddaughter were proud of her and Kit but how could she talk to a child about the War? About all she had seen and done?"

"Nanna? Dad said you met Grandpa in the War. Is that right?"

"Yes!" The young girl rested her head on her hands. Liz smiled, the gesture of the ten year old so familiar. Listening intently it was clear the child did not want to know about the technicalities of War and espionage - rather the love story that had kept her and her husband a live. The hope that even when evil was everywhere they would be together.

"Was he very handsome?" Liz blushed, thinking of the old man in his prime. She knew he would protest. He had never been one to accept praise.

"Yes. Yes. I was quite taken with him. Kit knew my brother. He saw me as a pain in the bum as you'd say. He didn't think women should be in the forces, never mind doing what I was doing."

The young child widened her eyes. The 98 year old man was now thin and frail but still sharp of mind. She had always been encouraged by him - told her that girls could do anything. The idea he had once thought differently bothered her.

"It was a different time my darling. Women and men tended to stick to roles they had always had. I wanted to help. My brother had died. I was angry and wasn't prepared to stay home and just let the War go on around me. So, I applied to join the SOE. Actually, I'm not sure what I can tell you." The old woman looked seriously at the child. "Have you signed the Act?"

"The what?" Eyes widened she had no idea what her great grandmother was talking about.

"The Official Secrets Act. It's very important." She watched her granddaughter enter the kitchen. "Nikki? Have you not told this girl about my work in the War? Stephanie, what had your mother told you?"

Nikki smiled at the old woman. "Nanna. I only told her that you and Poppa were in the War. That you both fell in love while you were fighting Hitler. They are studying the Second World War at school. But it's all facts and figures. None of it related to the people who were there. Steph, did you know Nanna was married once before Grandpa? His first wife and children died in the Blitz? I want her to see that it was a time where people were living in extraordinary times. You are a hero and should be recognised as one."

Liz narrowed her eyes. "It was a time that I wish I could change. I wish so much that Chamberlain and the other politicians had stopped the War before it started. The only good thing I found in that time was love. And friendship."

Stephanie smiled, completely in awe of the pensioner. "I can't talk about much of it."

"Because of the Act?" The child watched as she nodded.

"Also because it makes me sad, angry and it is so long ago." She tapped the young girl's hand. "It is not really the ideal thing for a young lady like you to hear."

Nikki poured her own tea as she watched the exchange. "Oh Nanna! Tell her of how you met Grandpa? Of Le Crest and Renaud. Every young girl needs to know that love can survive anything if it is strong enough. You saved Grandpa. You saved him from a Nazi firing squad! Risked your own life for him."

"Wow!" The young girl snapped her attention back to the old woman.

"I loved him. If he wasn't to be in the world I did not want to be. I had lost my darling brother; had just found out my daughter and ex husband had died in a bombing raid. What was I to do? I had no choice." She watched as her elderly husband walked in to the kitchen, supporting himself on two walking sticks. He smiled, his eyes still lighting up when he saw her.

"How are my three favourite ladies?"

"Kit." Liz wanted to stand but the 97 year old waved a hand away.

"I'm fine. Just need my legs to get the message. What are you talking about?" He sat opposite his wife. "Elizabeth?"

"The War." Liz sighed as he took her hand.

"No, Papa." Nikki corrected her. "We were asking about the love story behind it. About you and Nanna in occupied France."

"Ah." The old man smiled slightly, holding Liz's gaze. "Do you wonder why we returned to France? In 1946?"

"Sometimes."

"It is the place not where we met or fell in love but rather where our love story was saved. And it is such a story." He smiled. Liz raised an eyebrow.

"Ok, Romeo you tell it." She squeezed his hand. "You always did have a way with words."

Xxxxxxx

A/N next chapter set in the 1940s. Should I go on? WML was my favourite TV programme as a young girl. Hope people remember it.


	2. Chapter 2

2

Memories

Liz sighed heavily as she thought of her young great grand-daughter. She knew the little girl would never know the horrors of war she had faced. She prayed the leaders of the modern day were clever enough to stop conflicts leading to such a world wide devastation. She shook her head. The world had changed, egos had not.

"Liz?" The soft voice of her husband caught her attention. "What is it?"

"I was thinking about Luc, Emily and the others at Le Crest." Liz smiled slightly as the old man frowned. She remembered the tempestuous flame haired man she had fallen for so many years ago. He was the same now, just less of a physical presence. She smiled at him. "It was a long time ago. To think, our past is now a part of school lessons. They teach it in history lessons."

Kit laughed. "Then I hope Stephanie and her friends learn well. Was she asking questions? Is that what has got you into this mood?" He shuffled towards the kettle in the corner of the kitchen. She nodded.

"A little." She paused. "I was thinking that they could never really teach what happened. How it felt to be there. To stare at the eyes of a Nazi general knowing that he could have you killed in an instant. That he would see it as a routine part of his job, like signing reports at the end of the day. To risk everything for a friend."

"Ah. I see. You are thinking of Le Crest. I believe that is still covered by the Official Secrets Act. Isnt it?"

"I have no idea. We were SOE. It doesn't even exist any more. Now it is MI-5 or MI-6. We, my darling were absorbed into history along with the unit." She took the mug from him, wondering when his hands were beginning to shake if he really didn't notice. Parkinson's Disease was slowly robbing him of his memory as well as his motor functions. "Actually, I wasn't thinking of Le Crest and the rebels. I was thinking of Matty and how a young Jewish woman literally risked everything to fight against the Nazi regime. She lost her mother the year she was taken prisoner."

"I remember." Kit sat opposite her. "She was brave, slightly insane considering what we knew then of his treatment of Jewish people but none the less she was brave. What became of her? You were good friends."

"We were. She died. Remember? Back twenty years ago, cancer. Her grandchildren would be the same age as ours now. You went to her funeral." Kit sighed, rubbing his temples.

"You know I wish my brain was as sharp as always. I remember so much from the War but so little from this week." Liz squeezed his hand.

"I know, my love. I know." She smiled at him. She knew his intellect was one of the reasons she had fallen in love with him so many years earlier.

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1945 France

"Liz." Kit whispered her name as she held him tightly. It seemed unreal, her deal with the Devil had paid off. She pressed her forehead against his as her heart raced. The sound of guns firing shaking her to the core. "How?"

"You don't want to know."

"What do I call you now? Collette?" He searched her eyes, as if making sure she was real, that this wasn't some twisted dream of a dying mind. Liz smiled slightly.

"Liz. You call me Liz. The war is almost over. The Americans are in France. The Germans are retreating. There are even rumours that Hitler is in hiding." She touched his cheek, marvelling at the smooth skin. "You shaved?"

"My last request." He answered her in English for the first time. She shook her head.

"No."

"How?"

"One day I will tell you." She took his hand, leading him back to the small car where Dominique and Antoine sat waiting for them. Kit shook his head, unable to fully comprehend that somehow, his life had been saved. He had no idea how or why but he was holding Liz' hand and walking towards the car where their friends were sat. It didn't seem real. It couldn't be. Moments earlier he had looked at Emily and Luc knowing that they were all going to die by firing squad. He knew for them, the fight was over but now he was there and they were laying dead behind the walls of the Nazi stronghold. Suddenly he felt sick.

"Emily, Luc. I er I mean Adele and Luc."

"Oh no." Antoine shook his head. "They were kids! This bastard war! How? Why did we not know they were there too? How did?"

"No." Dominique glared at the man she had become to consider a friend as well as an ally. "The Nazi's are to blame for their deaths. Not us. No one else but them and we will mourn Adele and Luc. Come on now." She ushered the couple into the car as Antoine took a deep breath before looking away. The elation of finding his friends and helping Liz get Kit back was gone. Replaced by anger and pain at the fact they hadn't been able to save anyone else. Kit got into the back of the car quietly as Liz watched the slight change in his demeanour. The man she had loved for so long, the man who had been so strong had been affected by his ordeal. She sat beside him, taking to taking his hand as Antoine drove them through the war torn town as they both prayed Le Crest had survived.

xxx

"Liz? Elizabeth?" Kit squeezed her hand. "What is it?"

"You were so quiet. That day in the Square. I thought Antoine was going to explode." She sighed. "Over seventy years and it still seems like yesterday."

"I remember." He sighed as he wondered just what memories the young girl's questions had stirred. Seventy-two years had passed in what felt like a blink of an eye but he knew, as he looked in his wife's eyes that it had been a minor miracle he had seen any of them. He wondered if his little great-granddaughter knew what an amazing woman his wife was. He was suddenly determined to make sure she knew.

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a/n please review


	3. Chapter 3

_**France**_ 1945

The drive through the small French village had been in almost complete silence. Antoine drove carefully as Dominique stared out of the window. Liz kept her hand on Kit's as if reassuring herself he was really there with her. The car engine filled the silence as the small car wound it's way through the winding cobbled streets towards what had been the rebel stronghold. No one in the car seemed to notice the once Section leader was now a shadow of his former self.

Xxxxxx

"Viva la France! Viva Le Crest!" Renaud stated as he reached the old farm house. He shook his head as he walked around the mostly destroyed building. "What for?"

"Renaud?" He paused at the sound of his wife's voice.

"I mean it? What good have we done? Do you know how many people have died? People we know? How many simply murdered for their religion or race? For who they loved? Babies and children have not been spared? Why?"

"Because this War." She stepped towards him. "Is full of evil. The whole world fighting against each other. Hitler and his friends against Churchill and the rest. Cmon my love. We will survive."

"Why? I am an old man." He paused. "Rex died, Luc, Adele, Solonge? Why did they die? A man of God and three young people with loves and lives ahead? Why aren't they still here and not me?" His eyes searched her face as of seeking an answer in her old tired eyes.

"I do not know." She paused. "But, for one I am glad you are still here. That maybe. Just."

"Ssh!" He rested his finger against his lips as she raised an eyebrow. He handed her the shotgun before stepping forward. "Someone is there."

His wife made the sign of the cross before following him. Carefully the one mostly intact door was pushed open to reveal Antoine staring at the couple.

"Whoa!"

"I could have shot you." Genevieve snapped as he stepped forward.

"But you didn't." He embraced her in a bear hug as Renaud shook his head and smiled.

"I told you. Leave France! Go back home." Renaud snapped as Liz appeared behind him.

"We are home." She smiled as his eyes softened. "You did it?"

"He did not get to run away. May the good Lord judge him now." Renaud watched as the English woman seemed to relax. "And Gregoire?"

"Asleep." Antoine answered for him. "I slipped a little sleeping pill in his water. The man needs the rest." Liz looked away, knowing her friend was right. Kit was not well physically or emotionally and she knew his time in Nazi captivity had changed him forever. She just hoped a little of the man she loved was left in the shell that had sat next to her in the car.

Xxxxxx

2018

"I think you should help Stephanie with her homework." Kit sat on the sofa. "Best way to stop history repeating itself is to talk of it. Let them know the facts and figures but also how it damaged people. Neighbours who never spoke again, people attacked in the street as collaborators. France only having a puppet show for a government."

Liz sighed.

"She is too young."

"And we are too old. My darling, we are not immortal." He smiled.

"I told you at Le Crest. You don't leave me." She held his hand as he looked into her eyes. "And we vowed we would not talk about the War. It was a long time ago." She frowned as he kissed her hand.

"Which, is why they call the class History not current affairs."

"Kit."

"A school project? For a ten year old. What harm?" He raised his eyebrows as she sighed. She hoped he was right.

Cxxxx

A/N is anyone reading this? Please review if you are.


	4. Chapter 4

An education

Stephanie bounded into the living room where Liz sat. She had been so exited when Liz had spoken to her earlier that day. It seemed finding out about her great grandparents escapades in the Second World War has really caught the imagination of little girl.

"Come on, settle down. Where's your mum?"

"Talking to Grandpa Kit." Stephanie sat at the kitchen table. Liz smiled, Nikki had always been her grandpa's girl. The pair were impossibly close after the death of Nikki's father years earlier. Liz took a breath as she thought of her son. No parent should outlive their child. It seemed so wrong. "She says I'm not to push you."

"I see."

"Do you mind me asking all these questions? Nona."

"Its fine. I didn't think I could remember or that I would want to. But I do."

"Mum says you are a War Hero."

"Darling." Liz handed the girl a glass of squash. "Your Mum is a good girl but I think she is over reacting really. I did the same as many others of my generation."

"You were a spy! You were at Le Crest! You saved people."

"I took many many risks." Liz sighed. "Some paid off; like when we rescued Kit but not all. And I wasn't alone. I had a team, friends in London and here in France.

"What were their names?"

Liz smiled at the innocence in the child's eyes.

"One was called Matty. She was a good friend. And we served together when I first came to France."

"Was She brave? Like you?"

"Matilda? The bravest, bossiest most pig headed woman I have ever known. I thought she was crazy. But she worked hard, even when she was captured. " Liz frowned at the memory. Matty, as everyone called her was a wireless operator- the most valuable asset the team had. She remembered her dark haired friend fighting for her place on the team - determined to get to France. It was only years later that Liz had found out why.

"Nonna?"

"She was brave, foolhardy to some extent. Have you learned what Hitler and his comrades did to people he didn't like?"

Stephanie nodded, her dark fringe falling in her face.

"The Holocaust. Yes, my teacher told us a little of it but said it was too." She frowned "evil to fully comprehend."

"I agree." Liz nodded. "If you were Jewish, disabled or gay then you were targeted. No other reason. Horrendous times. I am glad you and all the children of today don't face that evil."

"Was Matty gay?"

"No my darling, she was Jewish. That's what made what she did, what she risked so much braver than anything I did." Liz watched as the little girl's eyes widened.

"But she was ok?"

"Yes." Liz frowned at the memory. "She was so brave. We had to save her, there was no way we were going to leave her behind. Our Section Head. He was our boss ordered that we get her back."

"How?"

"Stephanie." She looked up to see Nikki watching her. Liz smiled as Kit joined them.

"Go on, my love." Kit crosses to the table to join them. Liz smiled.

"I can't go into details but we got her back to England safely. "

"Raided the prison!" Kit watched as his granddaughter and great granddaughter looked at him in shook. "Oh your faces are a picture! Remember I was young then, impetuous and determined to keep my team safe. So, on a moonless night we broke her out of prison and got her on a plane home."

"You make it sound so easy." Nikki smiled. Liz rolled her eyes.

"It wasn't." Kit touched Liz's hand.

Xxxxxxx

France 1942

"Bloody Hell!" Kit ran a hand over his face as Matty glared at him. "Don't look at me like that. You are going home."

"I'm fine." Matty dabbed a wound on her lip as her hands shook. Defiant as ever she refused to look away from her senior officer. Liz sat on the ground next to her.

"Yes, thank God." She agreed. "You need to rest, to see your family. Your mother needs to see you."

"But."

"He is right. Go home, spend time in London. At HQ. After this, what you know could be invaluable."

Matty closed her eyes. Everything hurt, her head was spinning. In less than six hours she had been due to die by firing squad. Now her friends wanted her to go home. She rested her head back against the tree behind her.

"Ok but I wanna come back."

Kit smiled as a spitfire landed in the clearing. Shouts from the pilot and Kit's men urged them into action. Minutes later Matty was in the sky, on route to London. Kit turned to Liz as the plane disappeared.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"Getting her to go."

Liz narrowed her eyes. "I didn't do it for you. I did it for her." She turned, heading back into the forest leaving him to watch her walk away.

Xxxxxxxx

A/n thanks to my reviewer


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